


come away with me

by weatheredlaw



Category: Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel 616
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Teacher-Student Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-05
Updated: 2013-02-05
Packaged: 2017-11-28 07:44:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/671973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weatheredlaw/pseuds/weatheredlaw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint looks down at her, his broad shoulders framed by the evening light filtering in through the curtains. Kate reaches out and cups his cheek, knowing that she's going somewhere she probably shouldn't, but feeling something spark to life in her chest at the thought that he might be going there, too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	come away with me

Kate hadn't wanted to bang her English TA until he wrote his name on the board five minutes after class started -- _Clint Barton_ big, swooping letters, too elegant for his permanent six o'clock shadow and ratty purple Chucks, but fitting in some way. A sort of surprise grace. She'd stared at the open ends of his "q's" and "y's" and for some reason it made her wonder what it'd be like to have his hands all over her. 

These days, it's starting to be a problem. 

 

 

 

She's only been to his office hours once, mainly because she wasn't born yesterday and she can analyze a fucking sonnet, but also because she was dangerously close to moaning outloud, imagining herself spread out across his desk with his teeth on her neck like a fish hook, dragging her in. 

 

 

 

"What's his name?" Cassie leans over the table and grins, while Kate stares like a feral cat across the expanse of the dining hall, watching him refill his cup with Diet Coke. "Earth to Katie. Come in Katie."

"Huh?"

"You're oggling someone. What's his name?"

"I'm oggling no one," she huffs, shoving fries into her mouth. Cassie arches a brow knowingly and leans back in her chair. "My English TA is a beast and I'm totally, madly, horrendously in lust with him." She drops her head to the table. Cassie pats her shoulder. "I wanna bang him. So bad."

"Mmm, that's the problem." Cassie sucks on her soda until it runs dry and Kate finally lifts her head. "He's mega out of bounds, babe."

"Tell me about it."

"You could do something _legal_ and go out with Tommy like you keep saying you will."

"I never said I would do that," Kate lies, throwing the rest of her food in its brown bag and picking up her bag. "I have econ."

"Okay." Cassie smiles at her sympathetically, waving as she goes. "Be careful." Kate scowls. It's way too fucking late for _that._

 

 

 

It's a fucking travesty that Kate's English class is only fifty minutes three times a week because, honestly, that's not nearly long enough to get in a good fantasy, considering all of hers require a rather dramatic, detailed set-up. Also considering the fact that she could get expelled for acting on any of them. 

She's especially frustrated one Friday after he wears a particularly poorly cut, ugly blue sweater to class that only seems to drive her _more_ insane. It's a wonder she ever gets any of her homework done at all for this asshole. She tugs her phone out of her pocket, remembering thanks to her sister's eighty-seven texts that they have a dinner-date with their dad tonight. He'll probably cancel because that's how it always goes, but it'll be good to see Susan and vent about her sex life and lack thereof. 

"I had a huge crush on my physics TA in my undergrad," Susan says that night, eyes flashing with memory. She grins. "I was in his office hours every week, it was kind of a thing."

"Did you do anything?"

"Oh I _wanted_ to. But he was pretty straightlace." She sips her wine. "Thought about it plenty." Kate huffs and crosses her arms over her chest, pouting. "Come on, Katie, buck up. Find a nice boy your own age."

"Boring."

Susan nods. "I know."

Later, Kate insists on walking back to campus on her own -- it's well-lit and she'd like to stop off at the drug store before she heads back. Susan shrugs and slides into the driver's seat of her car and takes off. Kate's sorting through the list on her phone of stuff she needs from the store when a strong hand latches onto the strap of her purse, tugging it off. 

"Son of a--" She wheels around, taking off after them, shoving people on the sidewalk out of way. "Jesus someone grab him he has my purse!" Everyone stares. _Of course,_ she thinks bitterly, picking up the pace. She's getting closer, can hear the tone of his breathing dying down, when a solid wall of person steps right in front of the thief and he hits the ground like bag of rocks.

Unfortunately, so does Kate. 

 

 

"...there you go, easy girly-girl, _easy_..." Kate groans and squeezes her eyes shut tighter. Her fucking _head._ "You're okay. Come on, sit up."

Kate takes two seconds to gather herself before she twists the arm around that's trying to help her up and lands a solid kick in his stomach. He doubles over while she looks around frantically for her purse, thinking about the pepper spray buried in the bottom and how she's gonna blind this fucker if he--

"Aw, hell, girl, what's the matter with you?"

"Did _you_ take my purse?"

He coughs. " _No._ I called the cops on that guy. I, uh...I accidentally knocked you out. Actually. You ran into me and you, uh. You fell." He straightens up. "Sorry."

Kate blinks. "Mr. Barton?"

Oh, for the love of God.

"Uh, no one calls me that. Except my students. Are you one of my students?" He narrows his eyes at her, then grins. "You are! You're Kate Bishop!"

"Yeah." Kate's fingers go a little numb. She swallows. "That's me."

"Of all the streets. Sorry 'bout that."

"No, no. It's...it's cool." She fumbles her purse before hiking it higher onto her shoulder. "Thanks. For getting my bag back."

"Not a problem. Thanks for reading _Moll Flanders._ "

"It was required."

Barton huffs. "Yeah, you'd think that, wouldn't you?" He looks around. "Sorry, again. For knocking you out." He jerks his thumb over his shoulder. "Lemme buy you a cone. That'll make up for it."

"Uh. That's... that's cool. Right?"

Barton laughs. "Yes, Kate, I can buy you ice cream. No one's gonna to take away your four-oh."

"You don't know I have a four-oh." Barton raises an eyebrow. "Yeah, okay." Kate settles in next to him, watching him while they walk. She's being surprisingly chill, actually. For a girl about to get ice cream with the star of 99% of her sex dreams. Barton doesn't seem fazed at all. He babbles as they cross the street, tugging out his wallet when they get to the window and letting her order first. She is weirdly self-conscious about the way she eats it, choosing to focus on that instead of the pink of Barton's tongue that matches the pink of his strawberry cone so perfectly. 

So stupid.

"Thanks, Mr. Barton--"

"Ugh, okay. You can call me Clint. Seriously. I mean, not in class because everyone else calls me that, but. You can be special." He grins, then frowns. "Don't tell anyone I told you that." Kate puts a hand over her heart. "Good girl."

 

 

 

Kate only realizes they're running into one another -- less literally, more figuratively -- on a regular basis after they end up making plans to end up in a movie theatre alone one Friday night and just so happen, but you know not really, sit next to one another.

"This is weird," he says suddenly, staring at her. "I mean. Not bad weird. But..."

"I get what you mean."

"I can get in trouble. You can get in trouble."

"We're watching a movie. It's not a big deal."

Clint sighs. "Yeah, but _technically_ if I see you out in public like this, I'm supposed to relocate myself. It's part of the rules."

"Rules are stupid."

"Yeah. They're pretty fucking stupid sometimes." Kate turns away from him as the lights go down, but she feels his gaze on her for a while longer. She's gotten less and less awkward around him, started talking about him less, too, she's noticed. Cassie mentions it in passing one afternoon, asks if she's finally seeing Tommy. Kate doesn't answer either way. 

When the movie finishes, he walks her outside to her car, flipping through his wallet for his bus pass.

"Don't be stupid," she says, fishing her keys out of her purse. "I'll take you home." Clint's expression darkens. "Jesus, _what?_ "

"That's not a good decision for me to make."

"I'm your friend, right?"

"Kate--"

"No, I'm serious. We've been hanging out like friends for weeks now." She looks at the ground. "I mean, yeah, I'm a huge ball and chain when it comes to your bar hopping or whatever, but we've had fun." Kate sighs. "It's just a ride home. That's it. You can consider it a thank you for the movie ticket we're pretending you didn't buy me."

Clint huffs. " _Fine._ " He opens the passenger door to her car and gets in, pointedly not looking at her. "Don't tell anyone where I live."

Kate laughs. "As if."

The apartment in question is a brick building not too far from campus, or from her own place she notes with a smug satisfaction that makes literally no sense. Clint leans back in his seat. "Thanks."

"Not a problem."

"You know...you know I, uh. I accidentally started playing favorites. And I'm sorry for putting you in that position."

"Well you did knock me out."

"Right." He smiles. "You're a good girl, Kate. I like you. You've got something, you know? Gumption, whatever they call it. It's in you. You're made of good stuff, Bishop." Kate wonders if he can see her blush in the dark.

It would be so easy to lean over and kiss him right then. She's pretty sure she's read the signs well enough at this point that he'd definitely kiss her back.

Only it feels...cheap. It feels wrong. She leans back in her seat and smiles. "Thanks for the movie."

"Thanks for the company," Clint says quietly. 

"Well. Anytime."

He unbuckles and grins. "I'll count on it."

 

 

 

It takes Cassie all of ten seconds to realize that Kate and Clint are spending time together after they trade hello's on stairs outside the admin building. She turns her whole body toward Kate and snaps her gum decisively, grinning like a maniac. "Oh my god, Cassie, _what?_ "

"Are you _hitting_ that?"

" _Jesus Christ_ \--" Kate looks around. "What is the _matter_ with you?"

"Oh my God he has it so bad for you. Look! He's still looking back here." Kate glances over, catches his eye and flushes. "Is this who you've been blowing me off for?" Kate opens her mouth to protest, but Cassie holds up a hand. "No, no. Don't lie. I know. And you know what? I am totally cool with it. Mostly. Pretty sure you went to the movies when there were Beyonce tickets you were supposed to be helping me win, but I'm over it." She leans back against the stairs. "You're being careful, right?"

"We're not dating, good grief."

"Mmm, pretty sure you are. I mean, you keep hanging out with him. Is he buying stuff for you?"

"That is not a requirement of dating and you and I both know that."

"Yeah, he just seems like the ol' fashioned type is all." Kates makes a noncommital noise in her throat, mostly because Cassie's totally right, but Kate's not going to admit to anything. "God, he is like, the golden ratio personified. Except for the cheek scar. How'd he get the cheek scar?"

"I didn't ask," Kate says, flipping through her planner. Cassie huffs and pops her gum again, watching Clint cross the road. "Can we please go to calc now?"

Cassie rolls her eyes. "Yes, we can go to calc now. Nerd. Jesus, look at that _ass._ You're so lucky."

Kate watches Clint go into the English building, disappear behind the door without looking back again. "How the hell am I _lucky?_ " 

 

 

 

She decides it has to stop. He texts her to see a movie one Friday and she goes on a date with Tommy Shephard instead. She's undressing in his room when Clint texts her again, and she's getting dressed in the morning when he calls her. 

Tommy tells her he doesn't think it's going to work out, but he gets her breakfast and kisses her on the cheek before taking her home. Asks her to call him if she ever needs a quickie. 

On Monday she skips English for the first time all semester, hiding out in her apartment and feeling stupidly depressed for no real reason. She's digging around the fridge for her fifth snack of the day when she realizes she's breaking up with someone she didn't even know she was dating. 

"God dammit."

Kate shuts the fridge door and bangs her head repeatedly against the freezer.

 

 

 

She's actually expecting Cassie when she opens the door that night, considering she skipped all her classes for the day and also turned her phone off and also locked down her Facebook and also because the guy who delivered her pizza is kind of sort of Cassie's boyfriend but not really.

So, actually, seeing Clint at her door is kind of a surprise.

Mostly because she didn't know he knew her address.

"I, uh. I broke some rules. Figuring out where you live." He shrugs. "Oops."

"What are you doing here?"

He holds up a paper. "You didn't come to class today. I passed back your midterms. A-minus. You didn't really get that last one."

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me."

"Sonnets are hard," he explains. "I understand that."

Kate shuts the door in his face.

"Kate? Katie, come on. Lemme in."

"No." She leans against the door. "You're not welcome here."

Clint huffs. "You're the one who skipped class."

"I'm an _adult._ I do what I want." 

He laughs. "Right, real grown up decision there."

"Why do you care anyway?"

"Because you're my favorite student. Because I care about your education and your well-being. And because your friend came and told me you were held up in here eating pizza and Zebra cakes and watching re-runs of _Fresh Prince_ like you'd just broken up with your boyfriend or something." Kate closes her eyes. "And you know, I kinda realized. You sort of did."

He's quiet for a while, until Kate thinks he might have left. But he's still there when she opens the door again, looking a little lost and scruffier than usual. He's taking their not-really-a-break-up pretty hard, too. He grins. "Hey, girly."

"Hey."

"I'm sorry."

"S'not your fault," she mutters, opening the door wider and giving him space to come inside. He tentatively steps into the living room. Kate locks the door behind him.

"Nice place."

She shrugs. "It used to be my sister's, but then she got married."

"Sweet deal."

"I guess."

Clint looks down at her, his broad shoulders framed by the evening light filtering in through the curtains. Kate reaches out and cups his cheek, knowing that she's going somewhere she probably shouldn't, but feeling something spark to life in her chest at the thought that he might be going there, too.

"How many rules did you break to find out where I lived?"

He grins. "Like, twelve, probably."

"That's a lot of rules."

"You kind of make me wanna break 'em." 

"Rules are just suggestions," she murmurs, closing the space between them.

Clint slips a hand under her chin, tilting her face up toward his. "Yeah," he says quietly. "Something like that."

 

 

 

Things change a lot after that Monday. Kate switches English classes to avoid anything awkward at Clint's fairly sad, pitiful insistance, and he tries to ask around casually about dating policies between TA's and students.

It's not exactly red-light. But it's not really green-light either.

"According to the school's code of conduct, both partners have to be over eighteen and cannot be studying the same subject, so, we're good there." Kate slurps her coffee. "'The partnership must be approved by the assistant's college advisor. If the relationship is, at any time, deemed inappropriate by the advisor, they may insist that the partners end their relationship, which they may do so without consequence.'" Kate smiles. "That doesn't seem too harsh."

"My advisor is _never_ gonna green-light this."

She sighs and sets her coffee and the book down, crawling over the couch and into his lap. "Stop being a grumpy face."

"I'm not. I'm just saying--"

"You should ask. And if they say no--"

"Then I'm gonna run away with you and that's that. We can fugitives together. It'll be fun." He kisses her. "And sexy. Did I mention it'd be sexy?"

"Mmhm. You did." He sighs and wraps himself around her while she settles into the spaces of his body. She's always so small in his arms, miniature in comparison. She closes her eyes. "If they say no...then maybe we take that as a sign."

"I'd rather we didn't. Some bullshit rule doesn't mean we should or shouldn't be together." 

Kate tilts her head up at him, kissing his neck as she moves to straddle his lap. He melts under her hands, letting her lift his shirt off and throw it to the side, running her hands over him. She drops open mouthed kisses along his neck and chest, shifting down until she's lowering herself between his knees, and Clint has to reach out and stop her. "Kate--"

"I want to."

"You don't _have_ to."

"Stop treating me like I don't know what I'm doing. Either you want a blow job or your don't."

Clint rolls his eyes. "Yeah, okay."

"Wow. Your enthusiasm _is_ inspiring."

"What, you want me to talk nasty to you or something?"

"You could tug my hair a little. Not too hard." Clint blinks through her specificity. The flush in his face tells her he likes it. "I don't need dirty talk. I need you to enjoy yourself."

She sucks him off until he begs her to stop, pupils blown and looking at her with a mix of wonderment and _what-the-fuck_.

It's cute.

"You make me into somethin' else, girly." Kate pushes herself up, lifting her skirt and tugging down her underwear, tossing them on top of his shirt. Clint produces a condom from his back pocket, looking sheepish, but Kate doesn't mind. She kisses him, rolling it down the length of his cock before lining him up with her cunt and sinking down. Clint groans, scrambling to hold her close while she clenches around him, bracing herself with a hand on his shoulder. "You okay?"

Kate moans, "Yeah. I'm good. I just...just gimme a second." Clint holds her still while she breathes, relishing in the stretch and burn of him inside her before pushing up and dropping back down. He spreads his hands under her thighs, leveraging her up and down before he reaches forward and brushes a thumb over her clit. " _Clint--_ "

"I gotcha. You're okay. I'm here--" 

He doesn't come until she's finished, her legs trembling as she catches her breath. He carries her out of the living room and deposits her gently on the bed before going into the bathroom to clean up. Kate takes off her skirt and top, sliding between the sheets and waiting for him to come back. 

"Should I go?" he murmurs. He usually does. Kate looks at him through half-lidded eyes and shakes her head. "Okay. I'll stay."

"We'll go to your advisor in the morning," she says with a yawn.

Clint holds her close. "Yeah."

 

 

 

At some point, Kate figures that dating someone six years older than her is going to pay off by way of access to booze, but Clint's weirdly a stickler about it, even after they get the okay from his beast of an advisor, a surly dude with an eye patch who smells faintly of wet cigars and Wild Turkey. 

The English department is so fucking weird. 

"You're not even gonna buy me beer?"

"No. I will buy you beer two years from now, when you're twenty-one and I won't go to jail. I'm already cuttin' it close with you _now_ , Katie-Kate." She huffs. "Come on, you. Don't be a baby."

"You're a jerk."

Clint smiles. "This is true." His kisses the back of her neck. "How about we go out? Hmm? You said your friends were doing dinner. You also said they wanted to meet me."

"You don't have to."

"I can eat across the restaurant from you, if you want. Be your chaperone."

Kate groans. " _Ugh_ , why do you _do that?_ "

"Because you get mad when I tease you and it's pretty damn cute."

"I am not _cute._ "

Clint shrugs. "Whatever you say, girly." He drops a kiss on top of her head. "You gonna shower before you go?"

"You tryin' to say something?"

"No." He presses his mouth against her ear in a way that makes her gut clench, makes her stomach warm and her eyes glaze over. "Just tryin' to start something."

 

 

 

Kate's never been in love. She's never said it outloud. She's never looked at someone and wondered what her life could be like ten years down the road, seeing them still every day, waking up next to them. She thinks about Clint and all the things he's never told her -- the wedding ring abandoned in a kitchen drawer, pictures taped up in boxes he won't talk about. 

Sometimes, her curiosity gets the best of her.

"They just--"

"Don't _touch these._ " He shoves them back into their box and pushes them back to the top of the hall closet. "Why would you _touch_ them?"

"I'm sorry, I was just--"

"You want me to go through your shit? You got some things you ain't telling me, you think I want to go digging around for it?"

"Don't act like this is _my fault_ or something. I just...I just wanted to see."

"You're a _child_ ," he snaps. Kate drops her hands. He looks at the ground. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean--"

"No. No, you're right." She crosses the room and gets her bag. "I am. It's fine. I'm sorry I looked at the pictures. It won't happen again."

"Kate. _Katie_ , I'm sorry--"

"I'm going home. I'll call you tomorrow."

Kate steps into the hallway, the door snapping shut behind her as she takes slow, calming breaths. She leans against the wall, thinking he might come after her. All she can hear is his heavy breathing on the other side, and a muttered, _Fuck_ , before she goes. 

 

 

 

In the morning, he's chaining his bike to the rack outside her apartment, looking sheepish and sorry, carrying a box of donuts and half a gallon of milk.

"I come bearing gifts."

"The empress will see you, I suppose," she murmurs, settling her hands on his hips once he climbs the stairs and kissing him. "I'm sorry."

"Me, too."

"You have secrets and that's okay. I didn't mean to pry."

"I didn't mean to call you a kid. I love you."

"I love you, too."

"I brought donuts."

Kate grins. "Are they jelly-filled?"

He laughs. "Every last one of 'em."

 

 

 

"Take the picture, Kate."

"Stand up _straight_ , asshole."

Clint groans and shifts his weight. "It's _hot outside_ and I am wearing _velvet._ Can we go now?"

"Look at you, all fancy shmancy." She tucks her camera back in her purse and goes to him. "Hello, Dr. Barton."

"Please don't call me that."

"You earned it."

"True." He presses a quick kiss to her lips. "We should celebrate."

Kate gasps in mock surprise. " _Dr. Barton._ Not in front of all these _people._ "

"Then away from all these people," he says, scooping her up in his arms. Kate squeals, clinging to her neck and breathing in the scent of his new robes, the tastle from the hat tickling her nose.

"I'm very proud of you," she murmurs.

"And I'm very glad you're here," he says.

"Hmm. Like I'd miss it." _Like I'd miss anything,_ she doesn't say.

But that's alright.

He knows.


End file.
